E/CN.4/1995/34/Add.1 page 7 Centre for Prison Reform, Mr. Valery Abramkin; the Deputy Director of the Moscow Research Centre for Human Rights, Dr. Vladimir Raskin; the Chairman of the Society "Right to Life" against the Death Penalty and Torture, Mr. Viktor Kogan-Yasni; the Chairman and the Director of the Society for the Guardianship of Penitentiary Institutions, Ms. Olga Chaikovskaya and Mr. Andrey Babushkin, respectively; the Chairman of the Society for the Defence of Convicted Businessmen and Economic Freedoms, Mr. Viktor Sokirko; the President of the Independent Psychiatric Association, Dr. Yuri Savenko; and a representative of Human Rights Watch-Helsinki, Ms. Erika Dailey. In advance of the visit he had also had a meeting with research staff of Amnesty International. 18. The Moscow Centre for Prison Reform also coordinated a meeting with former detainees and family members of current detainees alleging serious violations of human rights. The Special Rapporteur also had a lengthy discussion with a practising attorney who represents criminal defendants. 19. The Special Rapporteur would like to thank the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for its invitation to visit the Russian Federation, thereby manifesting a spirit of cooperation with the Commission on Human Rights. He particularly appreciated the generous assistance and hospitality of the Department of International Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights. The Special Rapporteur also wishes to thank everyone, officials as well as private individuals, with whom he held discussions during his visit; their valuable information permitted him to understand better the current situation in the country. II. THE INITIAL PHASE OF DETENTION 20. During his visit the Special Rapporteur received numerous allegations of police brutality at the time a suspect is taken into custody. Although beatings and other forms of ill-treatment appear to be frequent, the Special Rapporteur did not conclude that they are routine. The Special Rapporteur would note, however, that the lack of confidential meetings with detainees prevented an effective examination of the problem due to the apparent reticence on the part of detainees to make such allegations in the presence of an official from the Ministry of the Interior. 21. It does appear that there is evidence that police abuses are not necessarily deterred by a provision within the Criminal Code which provides that "an act of coercion to give evidence by means of threats or other illegal acts by the person carrying out an inquiry or preliminary investigation is punishable by deprivation of freedom for a period of up to three years and up to 10 years where such an act is combined with the use of violence or personal insult". (see article 179 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic). The belief that the police may act with impunity was vividly demonstrated by an incident involving a Russian official. As related to the Special Rapporteur, the official reported to the police an attempt at extortion made against him. While he was at the police station to file the report, a suspect was brought into the same room. In the presence of